Wednesday, November 21

Tuesday, November 13

This is video I shot two years ago of my friend Mike's 98 Dodge Dakota which has been converted to a solid front axle from the stock IFS. It was taken while Mike attempted to navigate the rocks on a "Blue 2" trail called "Chicken Run" at Paragon Adventure Park in PA. In this video Mike twists his rear driveshaft, however, we continued out of the trail and through other areas of the park before finally removing the rear driveshaft and continuing with just front wheel drive.

Thursday, November 8

Vernon, N.J. - A brawny thief smashed through a minivan’s window yesterday, took the vehicle on a short ride and dumped it on the side of the road before fleeing on foot into the woods, township police said.Police have described the suspect as a black bear.About 2 a.m., Patrolman David Dehardt noticed the 2004 Mazda minivan parked on the side of the road in the Highland Lakes section of the township.Dehardt investigated and took detailed notes to describe the crime scene: paw marks on the windshield, bear drool on the cloth interior, claw marks on torn-off door panels, black hair on the seats and countless candy wrappers in and out of the minivan.Based on his investigation, Dehardt developed a theory. The bear broke the window to steal a bag of Halloween candy and dislodged the parking brake, sending the minivan about 40 feet down a driveway and onto the road.Dehardt followed a trail of candy wrappers into the woods, but was unable to locate the suspect.

Monday, October 29

Friday, September 21

Lillian CollinsCOLLINS, Lillian Lillian (Muchelot) Collins, 83, of Hartford, beloved wife of the late Garlin E. Collins, passed away Saturday (September 15, 2007), at her daughter's home in Granby. Born in Hartford, daughter of the late Albert and Annie (Fresdorf) Muchelot. She lived in Hartford most of her life. She was employed with Wiremold Corp. for 46 years before retiring. She was a member of St. Augustine's Senior Citizens Group. She leaves a daughter, Judith Ann Collins of Granby, three grandchildren, Walter Felix, Jennifer Morse and Richard Halverson; four great grandchildren, Jessica, Emily and Eric Morse and Peyton Halverson; a brother Fred and his wife Jennie Muchelot of Spring, TX and 2 sisters Nellie Nogas and Pauline Brunoli of Hartford; 2 nieces, Dori and her husband Gary Lee and Donna and her husband Michael Bussey both of Texas and a niece Barbara M. Harnett of Goshen, a nephew, Lenard and his wife Donna Papillo of Clearmont, Fl and a nephew Robert Nogas of Hartford; and many great nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by a brother Daniel Muchelot and a nephew Peter Nogas. A memorial service will be held at a later date. A special thank you to the Farmington Valley VNA for their wonderful care. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Farmington Valley VNA, 8 Old Mill Lane, Simsbury CT 06070 Hayes- Huling & Carmon Funeral Home in Granby has care of arrangements for online condolences please visit www.carmonfuneral home.comPublished in the Hartford Courant on 9/18/2007.

Wednesday, August 22

I'm a fan of the short lived Showtime comedy series "Dead Like Me" and have both seasons on DVD. I was disappointed that the show was not brought back for a third season. After a few years, I just found on a couple of sites, including Ellen Muth's official site, that they are currently filming what looks to be a direct to video movie. If you've never seen the series, here are the opening credits.

Wednesday, July 18

Tuesday, July 17

GLOUCESTER, Mass. (AP) — After nearly two years, thousands of truck miles and $12.5 million in storage costs, a cold relic of the flawed Hurricane Katrina relief effort is going down the drain. Read Full Story.

Friday, July 13

Tuesday, July 10

Recently, I was asked by someone local if it would be OK to post my weather sensor data on their own website. If you are local to East Hartland and have your own website, please feel free to add one of these weather stickers to your own site. The code can be copied from this link.

Friday, June 1

What started out as a simple task of setting up our table, chairs and other backyard items has snowballed into a complete redesign and reconstruction of the deck. I removed all of the extremely dried out deck boards and replaced them with the plastic/wood composite boards I picked up from Lowes.At the same time I added a 12'x12' section to the deck so our outside gazebo would fit. It was a slight bit too wide for the existing deck. I still have a couple of shelves and some trim to install. Also some 12V lights to install as I have pre-wired the deck with low voltage, speaker, Cat 5 and Coax cable for future upgrades.

Friday, April 13

We installed a new Regency I2400 Wood Fireplace Insert with a stainless steel full flue liner which was inspected by the building inspector today. Rated for 75,000 BTU, this should keep the house pretty warm in the colder weather.

Thursday, April 5

Ingrid bought me a new Camera for my Birthday, a Canon EOS 400D Digital Rebel XTi, 10.1MP Digital SLR. Very Cool! Also got the first two seasons of "Dead Like Me" on DVD and a new beard and mustache trimmer.

Monday, March 12

It's been a while since I posted an update about the house. Things are going well but we still have a number of boxes that need to be unpacked and a number of things to do around the house. Ingrid and I have decided that we want to replace nearly all the windows as the house was a little drafty when the outside temp dropped over the last few weeks. I checked out the windows and most are warped and show some signs of water damage. Also, we realized the new French Door the previous owner put in the living room just before we moved in, really isn't a cold climate door and doesn't seal well either. Even though it's a new door, we've decided that too need to be replaced with a door of higher quality. Found a real nice unit made by Anderson but it's a bit on the pricey side. In any event, we'll most likely make that investment before fall. Still have some painting and a long list of other things to fix/change. I put new up some new outdoor lights, replacing all the broken fixtures. Found a great deal on some Hampton Bay lamps at Home Depot, box of 2 for $29, and they match the post lamp Make gave me to replace the missing one. I also converted the halogen flood light above the garage to turn on via a motion sensor.